Turkish Greetings: How to Say Hello and Goodbye (Merhaba, Selam, Hoşça Kal)

Hello in Turkish is merhaba, a neutral greeting you can use with anyone, and the casual version among friends is selam. For goodbye, Turkish uses two different phrases depending on who is leaving: the person who leaves says hoşça kal, and the person who stays answers güle güle.

That second rule trips up almost every beginner, so it gets its own section below. You will also find time-of-day greetings, formal and plural forms, the phone greeting, and the fixed call-and-response pairs (like hoş geldin → hoş bulduk) that Turkish speakers use every day.

Pronunciation hints are rough English approximations: uh stands for the Turkish ı, ö and ü are as in German, and ğ mostly lengthens the vowel before it. To hear the real sounds, use the Turkish alphabet tool.

Saying hello

Merhaba or selam?

Think of merhaba as “hello” and selam as “hi”. Merhaba is never wrong: you can say it to a shopkeeper, a doctor or your neighbour’s grandmother. Selam is friendly and relaxed, and you will hear it constantly among young people, but with an older stranger or in an office it can sound a little too familiar.

Speakers often combine greetings: Merhaba, günaydın! or Selam, nasılsın? (Hi, how are you?). The question after a greeting is almost always “how are you?”, which has its own set of answers: see how to ask and answer nasılsın.

Time-of-day greetings

• Günaydın is only a greeting. You say it when you first see someone in the morning, not when you leave.
• İyi günler (good day) and iyi akşamlar (good evening) work both as hello and as goodbye. A shopkeeper will often say İyi günler! as you walk out.
• İyi geceler (good night) is only for parting at night or going to bed. Arriving at a dinner at 9 pm, you say iyi akşamlar, not iyi geceler.

Saying goodbye

The hoşça kal / güle güle rule

Turkish splits “goodbye” by role:

1. You are leaving → Hoşça kal (lit. “stay pleasantly”) or Hoşça kalın.
2. You are staying and someone else leaves → Güle güle (go with a smile).

So when you leave a friend’s flat, you say Hoşça kal! and your friend, standing at the door, says Güle güle! If you both leave at the same time, use a neutral phrase such as Görüşürüz! or İyi günler!

The -ın in kalın is the plural and polite imperative ending, the same one you see in bakın (look) and gelin (come). The page on the imperative mood shows how it works with every verb.

Fixed greeting pairs

Several Turkish formulas expect one specific reply. Learn them as pairs:

Kolay gelsin is not strictly a greeting, but it replaces or follows one whenever the other person is working: shopkeepers, drivers, cleaners, colleagues at their desks. Read what kolay gelsin means and how to reply for the details.

Formal or informal?

Most greetings have an informal sen form and a formal or plural siz form:

Use the siz forms with strangers, older people, customers and officials, and the sen forms with friends, children and family. For polite address, add Bey (Mr) or Hanım (Ms) after the first name: Günaydın, Ayşe Hanım. The -sınız in nasılsınız is the “you are” ending explained on the personal pronouns and “to be” page. For the full picture of who gets sen and who gets siz, see sen vs siz and bey, hanım, abi, abla.

Body language

• Handshake: standard in business and when meeting someone for the first time. Preferences vary from person to person, so it is polite to let the other person offer first.
• Cheek kisses: close friends and relatives often greet each other with a light kiss on both cheeks. With people you don’t know well, a handshake is more usual. Follow the other person’s lead.
• Kissing an elder’s hand: on holidays and family visits, younger people kiss an elder’s right hand as a sign of respect and touch it to their forehead (el öpmek). Guests are not expected to do this, but it helps to recognise it. See Turkish holiday greetings for the phrases that go with it.

Dialogue: meeting a neighbour

Elif: Günaydın, Mehmet Bey! Good morning, Mr Mehmet!

Mehmet: Günaydın, Elif Hanım. Nasılsınız? Good morning, Ms Elif. How are you?

Elif: İyiyim, teşekkür ederim. Siz nasılsınız? I’m fine, thank you. How are you?

Mehmet: Ben de iyiyim. İşe mi gidiyorsunuz? I’m fine too. Are you off to work?

Elif: Evet, biraz geç kaldım. Hoşça kalın! Yes, I’m running a bit late. Goodbye!

Mehmet: Güle güle, iyi günler! Bye, have a good day!

Elif, who leaves, says hoşça kalın; Mehmet, who stays, says güle güle. Both use siz forms because they are neighbours rather than close friends.

Common mistakes

• Saying güle güle when you leave. It sounds as if you are sending the other person away. Leaving = hoşça kal(ın).
• Greeting with iyi geceler. It is a farewell for the night. Arriving in the evening, say iyi akşamlar.
• Replying teşekkürler to hoş geldiniz. People will understand you, but the expected answer is hoş bulduk.
• Using selam with officials. It is not rude, but merhaba or iyi günler is the safer choice at a bank, hospital or government office.
• Dropping the dot on capital İ. İyi günler starts with a dotted İ; I without a dot is a different letter with a different sound. If your keyboard makes this hard, use the Turkish keyboard tool.

Mini-quiz

1. You are leaving a café and the waiter stays. What do you say, and what will he probably answer?
2. You arrive at a friend’s birthday party at 8 pm. Which fits: iyi akşamlar or iyi geceler?
3. Your host says Hoş geldiniz! What is the reply?
4. Make hoşça kal polite or plural.
5. Which is more casual: merhaba or selam?
6. Someone greets you with Selamünaleyküm. What do you answer?

Answers: 1. You: Hoşça kalın (or İyi günler); the waiter: Güle güle. 2. İyi akşamlar. 3. Hoş bulduk. 4. Hoşça kalın. 5. Selam. 6. Aleykümselam.

Next steps

A greeting is almost always followed by “how are you?”, so continue with nasılsın and its replies, then learn how to say thank you, please and sorry.